The best books of 2024

This list is part of the best books of 2024.

Join 1,350 readers and share your 3 favorite reads of the year.

My favorite read in 2024

Book cover of The Great Believers

Peggy Joque Williams ❤️ loved this book because...

I felt like the characters in The Great Believers were people I knew at some point in my life. I really connected with the characters.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Character(s) 🥈 Writing
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By Rebecca Makkai,

Why should I read it?

8 authors picked The Great Believers as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST
A NEW YORK TIMES TOP 10 BOOK OF 2018
LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE WINNER
ALA CARNEGIE MEDAL WINNER
THE STONEWALL BOOK AWARD WINNER

Soon to Be a Major Television Event, optioned by Amy Poehler

"A page turner . . . An absorbing and emotionally riveting story about what it's like to live during times of crisis." -The New York Times Book Review

A dazzling novel of friendship and redemption in the face of tragedy and loss set in 1980s Chicago and contemporary Paris

In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an…


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My 2nd favorite read in 2024

Book cover of The Butterfly Cafe

Peggy Joque Williams ❤️ loved this book because...

The characters in this book felt like people I know, except they were in an entirely different setting--in Japan! I loved the setting as well as the characters.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Character(s) 🥈 Immersion
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐇 I couldn't put it down

By Diane Hawley Nagatomo,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Butterfly Cafe as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Set in modern-day Tokyo, The Butterfly Café tells the story of American Jessie Yamada. When her emotionally-abusive husband suddenly dies in a traffic accident, she is overcome with guilt because while making plans to leave him, she had often thought how much easier it would be for her if he were dead. Those feelings quickly shift to shock and anger after discovering her entire marriage had been built upon secrets and lies. Jessie unexpectedly inherits a dilapidated café full of cats, where with the help of old friends and quirky neighbors, she constructs a new life for herself and her…


My 3rd favorite read in 2024

Book cover of When Banana Stains Fade

Peggy Joque Williams ❤️ loved this book because...

This book took me to a world I have never experienced before in real life or in a book--Jamaica. It is a saga about several generations of women finding unique strength.

  • Loved Most

    🥇 Immersion 🥈 Emotions
  • Writing style

    ❤️ Loved it
  • Pace

    🐕 Good, steady pace

By Frances-Marie Coke,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked When Banana Stains Fade as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

“When Banana Stains Fade will draw its readers into the compelling drama of over four generations of a Jamaican family, told through the lifeline of its women.” –Rachel Manley, author and winner of 1997 Governor General’s Award for Literature in Canada for Drumblair: Memories of a Jamaican Childhood

When twenty-six-year-old Zarah returns home in 2002, desperate to reconcile with the family she abandoned, their first night together revives memories of events that led to her abandonment and their hopes fizzle.

Their reflections take the reader back to the inciting event years before… her thirteenth birthday, the onslaught of Hurricane Gilbert,…


Don‘t forget about my book 😀

Courting the Sun: A Novel of Versailles

By Peggy Joque Williams,

Book cover of Courting the Sun: A Novel of Versailles

What is my book about?

Can a free-spirited country girl navigate the world of intrigue, illicit affairs, and power-mongering that is the court of Louis XIV—the Sun King--and still keep her head?

Book cover of The Great Believers
Book cover of The Butterfly Cafe
Book cover of When Banana Stains Fade

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